Preview: England v Australia, 2nd T20I

Australia's barren run in international cricket which lasted for 200 days came to an end thanks to Aaron Finch's record-breaking feat and the visitors will look to draw confidence from that and clinch the two-match T20I series against England. Meanwhile, the hosts, who gave a good account of themselves despite ending up on the losing side, will be eager to get back to winning ways.

Australia: While nothing quite went Australia's way in the five-match Test series, the opening T20I was a pleasant change for the team from Down Under. Thanks to the efforts of Aaron Finch, who smashed a stunning 156 off just 63 balls - the highest individual score in T20Is - Australia defeated England by 39 runs at Southampton. While the 26-year-old Victoria-born cricketer came up with a breathtaking performance, blasting a record 14 sixes during his knock, he was given good support from Shane Watson and Shaun Marsh, with whom he was involved in century partnerships, to power Australia to a mammoth total of 248. While replicating such a feat would be asking too much, skipper George Bailey will be hoping for Finch to fire again and will also expect the rest of the batters, who mostly remained spectators in the opening T20I, to also contribute.

On the Rose Bowl track that did not give the bowlers any assistance, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Johnson getting early breakthroughs proved to be crucial as the hosts found the climb too tedious to handle, and despite a fighting knock from Joe Root, ended up 40 short of the target. However, the Aussie bowlers did err in their line and lengths on quite a few occasions, and were made to pay for it. Four bowlers conceded more than 10-an-over which will be a cause for worry for Australia, who will be hoping that they bowl with better discipline at Chester-le-Street, where the pitch is expected to be more responsive.

England: After the shock that the home-team bowlers suffered when Finch blasted them to all parts of the park, England managed to show some semblance of fight thanks to Root, who scored an unbeaten 90 in his first T20I innings. Despite being hit on the mouth by an awkward Josh Hazlewood delivery that let him bleeding, Root continued to battle and was given good support by Ravi Bopara and Jos Buttler as they helped the hosts prevent a humiliating loss. England's T20I captain Stuart Broad, while hoping for Root and Bopara to produce a similar performance, will be expecting the top-order batsmen like Alex Hales, Luke Wright and Eoin Morgan, who failed contribute in the opening match, to come up with a better show.

The hosts will be hoping that the bowlers quickly put behind them the belting they received at the hands of Finch and deliver a better performance at Chester-le-Street. Barring Jade Dernbach, who picked up three wickets at an economy of 8.5, none of the others could keep the scoring rate in check. Finn and Broad conceded more than 40 while Danny Briggs gave away 51 runs in his four overs. Root was the most expensive of the lot, conceding 27 in the single over that he bowled while Bopara and Wright too were taken for plenty. Broad will be expecting that the bowlers, including himself, pull up their socks and deliver.

Team News: Steve Smith is ruled out of the limited overs series after suffering an injury to his left quad strain. Australia, meanwhile, are unlikely to tinker with their eleven. England, on the other hand, might consider bringing in Michael Carberry, either as a replacement for one of the batsmen at the top of the order, or as Root's replacement in case the injury he suffered in the 1st T20I keeps him out of this game. England may also look at bringing in James Tredwell for Briggs, who had an expensive outing in the first game.

Quotes:

There have been a lot of new players who have come in and a lot of guys are ready to go, so there hasn't been a lot of baggage carried over from the Ashes. Everyone is really confident:Aaron Finch says Australia have put the Ashes loss behind them.

He's got over an inch laceration inside his mouth which is quite a nasty one. He's being treated now. I don't know the treatment he'll need but he was spitting out quite a bit of blood: Stuart Broad on Joe Root's injury.